God Bless Airbnb

Simply put, I love Airbnb. It makes most of my travel possible. I can't imagine being able to afford this trip if I needed to stay in hotels along the way.  Even when I find inexpensive ones they are waaaay too expensive for a long trip.  To make my dollar stretch further, I'm perfectly fine with staying in hostels, but I prefer them for short periods of time and if I'm trying to cover a lot of ground throughout my travels. I don't love them for longer stays or if I'm looking for a more settled feeling along the way. I also prefer them if I'm traveling with someone else. Depending on the hostel and the room options I don't feel as safe as in a hotel or an Airbnb when I'm alone.  Additionally, there have been lots of times when I'm walking through a popular area and I pass hostels and I thought to myself, "Oh thank God I don't need to be around loud 20-somethings who are just interested in getting hammered and hooking up." In those moments I've also yelled at the kids to get off my lawn, even if there was no lawn around - just for posterity's sake.

Usually when I use Airbnb I book out entire apartments. I like knowing that I can use the space as I desire with little regard for others while I'm there. If my suitcase seems to have exploded in the living room - so be it! If I want to make a sandwich in the kitchen in my underwear - it's happening! If I my bathing suit and towel hang in the bathroom for three days straight - no one else is there to care!  My intention when planning the first stage of this trip was to book an entire apartment so that I could have that type of autonomy and privacy, but as the Whitsundays is a tourist area I couldn't reasonably afford to do so.  I decided to take a little bit of a risk at a new experience and rent a room in a house instead of an entire apartment. I was nervous doing so because as is with anything arranged over the internet, I was at the mercy of past reviewers.  I sought out a room in a house with a woman who had overwhelmingly positive reviews from past visitors and that was in a safe neighborhood.  I was pleased to find Renee (and her husband Marc), the host for my stay. She (and Marc) and the stay have been great so far. 

I'm staying in a house in a cute little hamlet of a little less than 2,000 residents called Jubilee Pocket.  It is about a 30-40 minute walk from the center of Airlie Beach and is surrounded by Conway National Park, which I have been told is actually a rain forest. Airlie Beach is on the Coral Sea. While the reef is not considered part of the Great Barrier Reef, it's fairly close. Looking at the map below you can see that Cairns is north of the Whitsundays. Cairns is where everyone goes when they want to go see the Great Barrier Reef. 

When I booked my room in Jubilee Pocket it didn't seem like that big of a deal to be that far out from the main attractions in Airlie Beach; I was optimistic about getting at least an hour of walking in each day.  I thought it was be a good idea, particularly because of recovering from my back surgery two months ago.  Movement is good for me, but I don't need to be overdoing anything.  A nice leisurely stroll to the beach every day seemed great.

I took me right about 36 hours to get from my parents' house in New York to the house in Jubilee Pocket. I arrived on January 1 and was unexpectedly awake and feeling like I could tackle the day. I slept like a champ on the plane and it made all of the difference for having a good day 1. I knew that travel and the time change could catch up with me though, so I was cautiously optimistic and was going to be happy if I made it to 7 PM without a nap. After I was welcomed by Renee, I took a shower to clean up and then headed out into town.  I was excited to get the lay of the land for my next 10 days, but mostly I wanted to make sure I was up and moving for as long as possible before I crashed.

Oh, I also met Bruiser, my hosts' dog. She's a sweetheart who doesn't give two hoots about anyone unless you have food. Then, and only then, does she tolerate pets and attention.

I pictured the neighborhood as being much more rustic. The description in the Airbnb ad was a fair representation, but I had an image in my head of it being much more jungle-esque. I thought the walk into town would be on dirt/sandy paths, with tree canopy overhead, not through a neighborhood with sidewalks. It's fair to say the stay is close to nature, but it's not directly embedded into nature as I expected.  Because the neighborhood is surrounded by the forest there is almost constant chatter from all of the birds. It would be easy to imagine it as really annoying, but for me it's quite relaxing.  I don't even hear the birds while I'm sleeping - and trust me, they chatter all night and day. Check out this video that I recorded on my first walk:

And also this video from one night when I was about to go to sleep:

On my first day I came face to face with Australian summer real fast. LOL Walking 30-40 minutes is not a big deal, unless you do it in 86 degrees and 80% humidity. Fun fact: The Whitsundays are between the Topic of Capricorn and the Equator.  The suns rays are POTENT here.  Ninety-eight percent of all of the sunscreen available is SPF 50 because everyone needs that much protection.  I've been using it all day, every day since I've been here and I've still gotten pink in some spots.  Anyway, that first walk into town was a bit rough. I knew I was being dramatic but my self talk sounded a little something like, "I'm going to die. I can't stop walking. It's not an option. Stop being a wuss (censored for delicate readers). I can't die here. But I'm going to die." Once I got into the heart of the town, I immediately walked into a car rental place and investigated renting a car for the rest of my time here. Just as I was about to put my debit card into the salesman's hand I decided against it for two reasons: 1) It wasn't in my budget for this portion of the trip, and 2) There's a public bus.

I hadn't noticed the bus initially because I arrived on January 1, a national holiday in Australia.  The busses were running, but the schedule was limited.  I had completely forgotten that when I booked the Airbnb one of the selling points was the fact that there was affordable public transportation. I hightailed it out of the car rental place before I laid down a lot of money when it was unnecessary. I told myself that I'd try out the bus and see how it went. If it was awful I'd rent a car, but if it worked out, well, then I would use the bus.  I knocked around the town for the rest of the day visiting the beach front, the pharmacy, the grocery store, and basically got my bearings. Ultimately, I was just trying to keep myself busy until it was acceptable to go to sleep.  The good thing about traveling for such a long period of time is that there's no pressure to use every single minute of every single day. I know a lot of people can do that, but it is not sustainable for me. I need more of a balance than that. I'm ok with knowing that I saw what I could see and experienced what I could experience, even if that means that I don't see or experience everything I "should".

This is the very small beach front in central Airlie Beach.  I walked into the water a little bit and then noticed that most people were not in the water and it seemed strange to me. As I walked back up to the boardwalk, I noticed this sign (second picture).

I knew that swimming in the ocean in Australia was risky, but I'll admit I didn't get the degree of the risk.  I learned from locals that November to May is peak season for stingers and that the jellyfish are more prevalent near than coast than further out in the ocean.  I also learned that locals don't really swim in the ocean here, unless they go to one area that has nets to prevent the larger box jellyfish from swimming close to the shore.  That still doesn't prevent the super small, 1-cm version from sneaking through.   

So, instead of risking getting stung, I went to the man-made lagoon in the center of town to get some sun and to splash around a little. It's definitely not the same, but it's a pretty good alternative to not having a place to go swimming when you can look at the ocean constantly. I think it would kill me to be in the sun and heat and only be able to look at the ocean. 

The beginning of this sabbatical trip definitely feels more like vacation than anything else. Something that lends to that feeling is the fact that I haven't touched any work at all. LOL In due time... but I recognize that I can't spend like I'm on vacation so I'm focusing on finding that balance between taking advantage of seeing and experiencing things I may never have the opportunity to do again, and recognizing that I can't live an eight-month vacation. Part of that process is grocery shopping and cooking at "home".  Another benefit of staying so far out of the town is that it's not easy to get a meal real quick. It requires a bit more effort.  I suspect this will help me be a bit healthier too. I was really proud of myself for starting out making these tacos and eating at least two meals (breakfast and dinner or lunch) at "home" right off the bat.

That does it for me for now! Next time I'll post about my over-night experience at Paradise Cove.